Mexicans dominate marijuana growing in U.S. - including in national parks, forests

Mexican drug cartels raise marijuana in 20 states and some 67 national forests, a Senate committee was told today. They guard their valuable crops with armed patrols and at times, even with homemade landmines.

The testimony came from Gil Kerlikowske, of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, in a hearing before the U.S. Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control.

Kerlikowske told senators that Mexican drug cartels were "disproportionately represented" in illegal marijuana cultivation in the United States, although he conceded that it has not been determined if they are taking orders directly from anyone within Mexico. "Criminal groups benefit from using remote lands which permit traffickers to cultivate marijuana on a large scale, with little fear of detection and without owning land that could be confiscated."

Another witness at today's hearing, investigator David Ferrell of the National Forrest Service, said that in the past five years 80% of those arrested in connection with marijuana operations on federal lands were undocumented Mexicans.

Ferrell told committee members that between 2005 and 2010, 3.9 million marijuana plants were seized by federal agents on U.S. owned lands. He testified that severe environmental damage has been caused by the illegal cultivation, due to deforestation, the extensive use of pesticides and chemicals in marijuana fields and even reduced flows in adjacent rivers and streams, from which the growers draw water to irrigate their crops.

Committee chair Diane Feinstein (D. Calif) said that in her state, cultivators affiliated with the Familia Michoacana cartel tried to get a license to raise marijuana for medicinal purposes, as permitted by California law. She said that California has recorded at least 12 homicides in connection with illegal marijuana growing operations. Feinstein noted that laws of questionable validity in 16 states and the District of Columbia -- which purport to legalize medical marijuana despite its absolute federal prohibition -- have greatly complicated the government's efforts to eradicate illegal cannabis operations. "We have to do something to stop this. The situation in California is horrible," said the senator.

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